No cat quite like Grandpa

A bald and toothless pensioner called Grandpa is among around 20 cats hoping to find true love at a Cats Protection homing show on Sunday.

The charity has been loaned pens at Chipperfield’s Pilgrim Cottage Cattery to display most of the cats in its care in a Battersea-style bid to find adopters.

“We’re hoping to attract a good crowd of would-be owners. We have cats of all ages, shapes, sizes and colours, but the common factor is that they are all desperate for a home of their own,” said Cats Protection spokesman Suze Gomme.

The Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted branch has taken in an unprecedented amount of stray and abandoned cats this year.

“The cute, fluffy kittens are relatively easy to home. Young adults are slightly more difficult, no matter how loving and affectionate they are. But the hardest of all are the timid cats that require patience and love,” said Suze.

Another huge problem is cats like Grandpa, pictured left, who, even to the most ardent cat lover, could never be called handsome.

Aged between 11 and 13, the black and white veteran was found wandering the streets in a filthy, matted and starving condition.

He was taken to Queensway’s Vets4Pets where the only way to deal with the tennis ball-sized mats in his coat was to shave him almost completely.